ACCIDENTAL TOURIST

Rating:
Summary: Accidental Tourist is a Deliberate Joy
Review: Anne Tyler in AT starts with characters who are not out-right likeable. Macon Leary's story continues in such a way that he, especially, becomes more than likeable -- he becomes someone you know and someone you root for. Tyler's writing is simple but elegant. AT showcases a brilliant imagination well used in common places and situations. Seeing Macon come alive -- truly for the first time in his life -- is so inspiring, Anne Tyler makes me want to live too.

Rating:
Summary: Wish it never ended
Review: I generally read spy thrillers or crime novels, so the lack of action in this book could have made it not my cup of tea. However, the clever ways that A.T. depicted small universes of human feeling captured me. For example, when the dog is a problem and his brother suggests getting rid of it, Malcom has a flashback of his son (now deceased) playing with the dog, and dismisses the suggestion. The dog is a part of his son that lives on. I hesitate to read more or A.T, because the story won't be the same.

Rating:
Summary: Fairly good story
Review: I've never listened to a book on tape before, and only did so with this book because I needed something to listen to at work. The narrator did a pretty good job, though his voice reminded me of a grandfather, not a 40-something guy. As for the story, I liked the fact that you never really knew what was going to happen next. I couldn't figure out what Macon was going to do, where he was going to go, and ultimately, which woman he was going to choose to be with. The relationships presented in the story, most of them troubled and/or messed up in some way, were rather fascinating. Overall, a farily good read...or listen.

Rating:
Summary: VIVIDLY EVOKED.
Review: Such wonderful things happen deep inside the sentences. Anne Tyler has taught us to expect something extraordinary. Her touch is gentle but firm.

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Summary: Kept me wondering to the very end... and beyond
Review: While in the library scanning books on how-to-write, I came across a strong recommendation for Anne Tyler's "Accidental Tourist" as a good example of what a novel should be like. After reading the book, I concur. The three main characters in the book are Macon - a reluctant travel guide writer, his wife Sarah, and the "other woman" Muriel. There are also members of Macon's extended family that are equally interesting. However, none of the characters are very appealing. They are a whiney bunch, introverted, and opinionated. But the author does such a great job describing the idiosyncracies of the trio, that I found myself deeply interested in what happens to them. There is also fascinating and intelligent dialogue throughout. After I was caught up with the fate of Macon and the rest, I had to keep reading to find out what happens to their lives, and the author keeps the outcome in question until the last four pages. It is a well crafted book. I'm glad I read it. It is a little muddy to me what inspired Macon to make his final choice; I would have gone the other way. That muddiness and the unattractive characters made me give this book four instead of five stars.

Rating:
Summary: Better late than never!
Review: I've seen *The Accidental Tourist* on favorite book lists for years and even seen the movie. But I had procrastinated on the actual book until recently. Shame on me!

Macon is an eccentric yet endearing travel writer whose wife, Sarah,leaves him unexpectedly. Well, not as unexpectedly as Macon would like to believe. After the loss of their son, things never come back together for them. Macon is forced to move on with his life in a somewhat unusual manner.

In walks Muriel, the dog trainer, depending on which day or job we're looking at. Muriel throws caution to the wind on a daily basis and eventually sweeps Macon up in her ways. They become quite the odd couple, but how can we define what a love relationship can be for anyone except ourselves?

I thought Tyler did a wonderful job with the book and hope that others who may have missed the boat the first time around won't hesitate to buy a copy of *The Accidental Tourist*!

Rating:
Summary: Another fantastic Tyler tale
Review: I'm always amazed by Tyler's power to draw me into the lives of her convincing characters made so much more real by their quirks. Meeting the Learys in The Accidental Tourist was like having a very privileged pass to a very private show of familial bonding. They're eccentric and obsessed, all of them, but they're bound together in their oddities and just when you think you have Macon and Rose figured out, Tyler reveals that there's so much more to be seen beneath the surface. An unexpected treat in The Accidental Tourist: Edward, the dog, whose personality is chiseled almost as finely as any other character in the book.

Rating:
Summary: Anne Tyler is amazing!
Review: Having just finished reading it for the fourth time this week, I feel privileged to share my thoughts about the writing and the characters. In the film version of The Accidental Tourist, Tyler's descriptions and characteristics of the Leary family members and most of the other main characters seem custom created to be played by the actors featured. In both book and film, don't expect a thriller with complex plots and twists, but do expect a read you won't forget, some laughing with yourself, and possibly, a further understanding of human nature.

Fresh, crisp prose races through the pages of Anne Tyler's novels. Appreciating any writer and their work on an individual and unbiased merit is tough, when natural instinct makes comparisions with the authors you love. In most instances, this habit is blatantly unfair to the work at hand, but Anne Tyler's style is equal to that of Pat Conroy, and higher praise is not possible in my opinion. While her characters may vary from charming and bright to lethargic and eccentric, they share several memorable traits.

Tyler not only introduces and bonds you to her characters, she exposes their strengths and weaknesses with indelible humor. Macon Leary, fresh from the tragedy of losing his son finds his wife, Sarah, leaving him, citing that he doesn't care or allow himself to feel anything. While accusing and condemning Macon, she reveals her lack of understanding and withdrawal from the world. With Sarah essentially out of his life, except for occasional thoughts of her, Macon returns home to the house he grew up in with his siblings, and to older versions of his two brothers, Porter and Charles, and sister Rose. All three are amusing to know. Even while they are minor characters, their personalities and lives are open and easy to find kinship with, in one way or other, for most.

Tyler further represses the Leary's with the family bottle cap manufacturing business. Droll and lifeless, the company and its product mirrors the entire family. Macon escapes the factory by chance when the editor of a small business publishing firm happens across an article he's written in a small paper. Becoming the Accidental Tourist, Macon loathes travelling, and reduces his necessary trips into as compact and detached publications as he can manage. Macon's listless and introspective existence is about to change though, and therein lies the tale.

Anne Tyler's writing sparkles, and your mind will too, if you try The Accidental Tourist.

Rating:
Summary: Really enjoyed this
Review: If you saw and hated the movie, as I did, don't let that put you off. The book if fantastic. The relationships are fascinating. I really cared about the characters, and I could understand why Macon would be attracted to someone like Muriel, particularly after the loss of his son. Tyler writes characters in a way that I can believe; I felt like I knew the people in the novel. I laughed, I cried, I yelled, I pondered. All the things I hope a novel will encourage me to do. And most importantly, I never felt manipulated. Tyler didn't tell; she showed. I would have given it 5 stars, but I did feel that she could've expanded a bit more on Macon's relationship with his family, and particularly, his ex-wife. What was it about them they pulled apart rather than together in their grief? I still don't have a satisfactory sense of that.

Rating:
Summary: Lost in his own world
Review: This is a story of a man who creates his own world of loneliness and satisfaction. He feels happy if he does not have to go out or speak to strange and unknown people. His reactions are very passive and he is undecided about most of the things. Unfortunately, he does not realise and admit that his world could not give him all protection he would like to. He becomes more and more depressive and unable to live a real life. Even more, he gets lost in his own world! It seems that nobody can help him - mostly because he does not leave anybody in his vicinity. Only a woman, who is in many things very different - is young, talkative (too much, I think), full of energy, daring and also thoughtless - could maybe change him and even she must be almost aggressive. I like neither Macon nor Muriel. I think, the author a bit exaggerates in description of their characters. They both look quite unreal to me. But it is worth to read this book and if you take some things from Macon's and some from Muriel's character, you could get an interesting person. And some descriptions of Macon's thoughts are also well written.